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Five
Summer
After breakfast is prepared, I hear the call of the forest. I linger a minute to see if Boyd will wake up and join me. Sleepyhead. I pull on some socks to protect my feet from further injury before I step outside. To my surprise most of my wounds are healing up great, minus some bruising and superficial cuts. The bandages have held up. And whatever elixir Boyd put on me yesterday, it’s working like magic.
Topher’s big floof tail swishes across the hardwood floors in anticipation as I reach the front door. But I’ve never taken a dog for a walk before. Without the Lights’ enclosure, who knows how far he could possibly run off. I better not.
“Sorry, doggo. Not this time.”
All I need is to fill my lungs with fresh, cool morning mountain air. In, and out. Do you feel that? That is like freedom.
The woods are full of promise this morning. I think they’re enchanted, straight out of a storybook I’d pilfered from a secret chamber in the Lights’ library. Only true stories are allowed in the library. Most in the form of doctrine written by the Masters and Keepers themselves. So why were the fairy tales locked away, hmmm? From what I can tell, those stories of true and fearless love and a great, big wide world outside the Lights, are the actual truth.
I have never felt more like a princess than I do here, on Boyd’s land, in his huge bed, entangled in him.
And now I’ve done it. I’ve gotten stuck in my head and lost track of how far I’ve journeyed—I’m still not used to wandering alone and unfettered like this. But I’m unafraid. These woods are a sanctum, how can I not be safe?
All I have to do is turn back and retrace my steps, and I’ll be home.
Home.
Suddenly a loud snap! pierces the air, followed by a shuffling noise through the rocks and leaves. The echo of multiple sets of footsteps over the dense forest detritus. Hot panic climbs in my throat as I swivel my head around, squinting into the trees. The early sun is a blinding light. I blink to clear the stars from my vision. There’s quiet.
I slowly tread forward, my five senses on alert—yes, I can even actually taste my fear.
The rustling comes again, coming closer, or I’m coming closer. It becomes a steady lumbering cadence that grows heavier with my every step. The oncoming noise rolls and whirs, tickling my throat, making my inner ears itch. I stop abruptly, and the woods again descend into quiet.
Only my breath. In, and out. Freedom, isn’t that right? Am I going mad? I wrap my arms around my body and slowly peer through the trees. With a breeze I could have really indulged in yesterday, a swath of leaves are whisked off of tree limbs and laid over fat, protruding roots.
Snnnap!
“STAY BACK!” I call out this time, my voice giving away my fright, “whoever you are. Whatever you are!”
And then, there he is.
Not a threat. Not at all.
He’s a savior. A light. My knight.
My real keeper.
And he’s not happy. Boyd is wielding a ginormous ax. His dark eyes narrow on me. He cuts a clear path through the woods toward me as Topher bullets ahead of him, greeting me with a manic tail-wag.
This man…there’s nothing I’ve ever seen like him. He’s an avenging giant, a grizzly, advancing on me without a single hesitation. “Christ,” he breathes out. “Summer, are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“Yes. I mean no. I’m okay. I…”
Dropping the ax, Boyd’s gargantuan arms fall over me, pulling me into his hard, protective shield of a chest. “Don’t ever do that to me, honey. You were gone. I was so scared.”
“I’m sorry. Oh god, I’m glad it’s you. I just wanted to take a walk.”
“Walk’s over, princess.” He lifts me over his shoulders and carries me back inside the house. Topher finds residence again by the window, his eyes remaining wide, alert.
But alas, we’re here. Together, safe, warm. Heated. An electric current sets a charge through the void between us. “How are you healing, sweetheart?” Boyd says, gravelly.
“Well enough,” I whisper, peering up through my eyelashes.
Boyd’s reply is a primal growl. Here I am, all his. I’m all in and there’s no going back now and he knows it. And he knows I know it too.
